Please Seat Yourself
Moving from trees to tables, Jesus told a pair of parables while he was a dinner guest of a prominent Pharisee. We consider the first one this Sunday (in Luke 14:7-11), where we see that the invitation to and inclusion in the Kingdom are an undeserved gift, and, therefore, we are to respond with humility.
We need to process this parable because we often lack humility. Rather, we are proud and are prone to the pride of place. Examining this story that Jesus told, we see two important and interconnected ideas:
Humility is a Kingdom value (an ethical point);
Kingdom citizenship should and will humble us (a theological point).
Sit with us and let us take to heart what Jesus was saying.